All About Your Child

I cannot tell you enough how much I love the nature, animals roaming in the wild, plants blooming everywhere in the forest…

When I knew about the fate of Chek Jawa, we decided to make this trip, before its gone, knowing that Year 2012 is the expiration date for the beauty of this wetland.

We followed a group of volunteer guides who called themselves the Naked Hermit Crabs. There are no fees involved. The only money we had to fork out was the price of the bumboat back and forth from Singapore to Pulau Ubin and the taxi van ride to and fro from Chek Jawa.

Taxi van ride, two-way cost us $4 each.

I took 60+ photos just on this short 2 hour adventure. Too many photos to share here. So will just highlight the main parts in this blog but if you are interested to see the rest of the photos, go check out my Facebook.

To me, Chek Jawa is a place where (if you stay put at a spot long enough) you can find amazing tiny creatures. The children had seen many and so did the adults. Unfortunately, I do not have a power camera, like one of our group mates (we are separated into groups of about 15pax per group), whose camera lens cost $2,000+! *jaws dropped*

He could captured the otters swimming in the sea, whiskers and facial expression of the cute animal were locked in clearly in his camera. Aaawww….

And all I could captured was this :       *eyes rolled*

We went for the boardwalk and the view was incredible. Luckily the trip starts at 9.30pm, the weather was still not as hot, ‘cos this long walk on the bridge without any shade can be quite killing if the sun is scorching over your head.

As it was high tide when we went, we missed out on these:

My phone camera could not capture the tiny crabs in the mangrove nor the gorgeous hornbills high up in the trees well enough. All I could get was these:

Zooming in from the above photo…..can you spot the crab?

They share the same habitat as these mud lobsters, but we did not see any that day. What a shame!

If you did not spot the crab above, I think it would be even harder for you to see the beautiful hornbill in this photo:

Damn! I love my phone camera, but it really sucks in such situations! Hhhmmm….

The kids were calling out for us in the beginning of the trip, “Mummy see this! Papa come here! Mummy look!”

But towards the middle, they realised that they were sticking to the wrong people! The smart boys changed their target and stayed close to the knowledgeable tour guide, who shared the same surname as them, and kept asking the ‘poor‘ tour guide, “What is this? Why is this like that? Will have this and that? How come this or that?” *giggle*

The tour guide has a great camera too and his lens cost about $400+, so there are still some things he could not capture, compared to that group member I mentioned earlier. However, whenever he does capture something that none of us could see clearly, he would share that photo shot with us. *thumbs up*

Here’s him showing the grasshopper on his finger tip to the amused kids.

Finally there is this ONE insect, which my phone camera caught it really well (I think):

Other than creatures, we saw some amazing plants too:

In the very beginning, the tour guide started off by asking, “Is there any thing that you hope to see in this trip.”

I said “SNAKES”! *laugh* I love snakes and reptiles, I seriously think they are the king of survivors in the worst conditions.

My heart leaped with joy when I saw the two mighty pythons in Batam, see video here. But they were in a cage. *pout*

I wanted to see snakes and reptiles IN ACTION and my wish came true at Chek Jawa on 16th June 2012!!!

Caught a shot of this monitor lizard too:

Just before our trip ends, I saw this sleek long thing gliding on the floor! I exclaimed like a little girl when she sees Mickey Mouse, “Snake! Snake! Snake!” With my finger pointing at it the whole time, so as not to lose sight of it, so that my other group members can see it too.

Everyone in the group went crazy with their cameras big and small. It was moving at first and I was so fascinated by it, I forgot to take a shot, until the whole group crowded near him, I squat down to get a close up shot. I totally forgot that it might be dangerous. *slap* You can see how close I was to the reptile, look at the shadow of my head!

We were so lucky to have met the little fellow!!! It was our lucky day indeed!! Now, who says wish does not come true?! *wink* Dare to wish and dream my friends!

It was a wonderful idea by the Naked Hermit Crabs to end the trip with a drawing session for the children at House No. 1. All materials were provided. Every child gets to draw what they saw at Chek Jawa that day.

While the kids are putting their memories into pictures on paper, the adults get to enjoy the breathtaking view:

Before we hopped back into the taxi van to bring us back to the ferry point, we were greeted by many wild boars, the whole family (and relatives too)!

A trip of simplicity
A trip so rewarding
A trip to see God’s creation
A trip not to be forgotten
A trip to Chek Jawa.

***A small note: the mosquitoes there were not as scary as what some say. Allan and Binbin left the place with no stings while Keatkeat and I only had 2-3 bites from the blood sucking insects.

Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin

A close friend of mine for 20+ years invited me to her brother’s toy rental office for a day of fun on 9th June 2012. They call themselves THE TOY RENTAL CLUB.

It was an eye opener for my boys and I when we reached the warehouse full of toys stacked up tall and wide! Big and small. Fluffy and not. You name it, they have it!

They rent toys on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. They also rent kid’s size tables and chairs for birthday parties. You can even rent climbers, slides, coupers, tricycles, ball pools and bouncers to keep the little guests at your child’s birthday party totally entertained!

And that is not the end, there is more: ~

What I like best is the play area they have set up in the warehouse itself; so that parents can shop at ease, while their kids are occupied at the fun room.

If you have older kids, who does not feel like playing, they can opt to do a little art and craft, so that you can have a piece of mind while you select the most suitable toy(s) to rent.

All thanks to this invitation, my boys finally get to try sand art for the VERY FIRST TIME! *smile*

Needing some help…afterall, its their first try…

It is not just about rental, they sell toys too. Brand new or pre-loved, you choose. More toys for sale over here in another website of theirs called the J-Kids.

The kids had lots of fun together with my close friend’s nieces and nephews, while my friend and Allan and I chat over coffee and muffins. Definitely a great way to spend a day during the long school holidays.